El Despertar
by Tyranno's girl
Summary: Or 'The Awakening'. This world is filled with many strange things, people, and occurrences. Once must always be careful of who they put their trust into; everyone has a dark secret behind the mask they don in the day. Light instances of Spamano. Based on the short film by Katy Towell.


**A/N: **

**First Spamano! First, first Spamano! **

**And it's... horror. I give up, the only things I'm good at contributing to the Hetalia fandom are horror fics!**

**Anyway, inspiration for this fiction: the animated short/story of the same name by Katy Towell. If you have not heard of her, I demand that you go to YouTube and look up her channel _now_! **

**Anyway, all I can say is that I hope that this fic is readable and that I get some feedback. I'll shut up so you can read. **

**Disclaimer- I don't own Hetalia or any of the works of Katy Towell.**

* * *

_Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love. -_  
_Charles Maurice de Talleyrand_

* * *

A long time ago, a time now far forgotten, in a small Italian village where the air smelled sweet and savory and the winds were warm and pleasant, there was a day when God blinked his all-seeing eye once, only once.

On that day, the village's dead and deceased rose from their graves: hands gnarled and falling apart , eyes hanging from their sockets. They swarmed the defenseless village, devouring the living and reducing the village to a state of fear and chaos.

Only the mayor's youngest son, one Feliciano Vargas, was able to make it out of the fighting and fleeing to go and seek help. He had always had a gift for speed, so he ran from town to town, up to large cities, even a few convents to try and find help for his family and village.

But no matter where the auburn-haired youth went, he was always refused. No one would help him...

* * *

"Please!" Feliciano sobbed, clutching onto a man's leg despite the man trying to leave with his wife, "My brother and father, they're going to die if I don't find some help. Per favore, I beg of you!"

"Let go!" The man finally kicked Feliciano away, the teen sobbing as the man spat on him and took his leave. Spain was proving just as unforgiving as his native Italy was when it came to providing help.

"Anyone! My village needs help!" He begged again, raising his voice for everyone in the town circle to hear, "Please, we'd do anything, just _please _help us!"

There were murmurs all around, especially from gossipy women wondering what the youth was going on about, "His town is infested with _horrible _beasts..."

"Anyone who goes would die on the spot..."

"He's probably a monster in disguise..."

"Get him out of here..."

As the murmurs grew into grumblings and shouts of discontent, Feliciano's heart sank. What was he going to do? His father and brother were still stuck at home fighting against the undead fiends and they had risked their lives trying to get him out so he could get help.

But now, it was looking like it had all been in vain.

"Ve..." He whimpered, toffee eyes filling with tears as he clutched at his hair, "What am I going to do? What the hell am I going to do?"

Just then, as the crowd looked like it wanted to charge at him... A hush washed over the crowd. Feliciano wondered why they had stopped all of a sudden and wiped his eyes.

There was a woman walking across the town center. Oh, how she was beautiful. Her chocolate hair pulled up into a bun with a black carnation pinned to the side. Her curvy body was wrapped in an ebony dress decorated with blood-red gems, the design reminiscent to that of street dancers at festivals, and she almost seemed to _glide_ across the road: her red heels not even clacking as they hit the ground.

The townspeople immediately dispersed, not staying a moment longer as the woman walked closer to Feliciano. If he were paying attention to anything besides the woman, he would have heard one of the townspeople hiss "Bruja..."

Feliciano hadn't realized that the woman had made it close to him until he found himself squeezed into her arms, one of her hands messing around with his curled hair as she smiled, "Ay, que lindo! Little boy, what is your name?"

"Feliciano..." He replied before asking, "Please, do you know where I can find help for my village, I-"

"Shh, shh..." She hushed him down before moving away and nodding her head to the left, "Follow me."

* * *

Feliciano followed the woman in black to a large house that seemed to be cut off from the rest of the town despite all the buildings around it. Perhaps it was because it was attached to a farm, a few acres of land, and a river.

The space was splendid, chickens clucking in their red-spatter coop, the bulls grazing in the fields, and the trees that had black bark but the most vibrant leaves and fruit in their branches.

"Please," The woman smiled before opening the gate that led into the property, "Come in." Feliciano walked right in, but as he did a plummeting sensation filled his chest. Now wasn't the time to focus on it, though, no matter how it made him feel. "I live here with my brother," The woman explained as they circled the house, looking for something.

The sounds of a guitar being strummed floated over the wind, the song unfamiliar to the Italian's ears. "Ah, there you are Antonio." Feliciano looked up into a tree and saw a peculiar sight.

There was a man, the same age as the woman who had led Feliciano there, hanging upside down with his legs from a tree branch as his fingers moved across an ebony-wood guitar. His short, wavy chocolate hair dropped due to gravity and his eyes were closed: not impeding his playing in the least. And he was dressed, a bit more humbly than his sister, but still in black.

"My brother can help your village." Feliciano yelped when he felt the woman's hands on his shoulders. "We are twins, you see. We were already predicted to have mysterious lives when the doctor found out our mother was carrying us both. But we danced in our mother's womb as well and we danced when we were born." She smirked, ruby red lips revealing pearly white teeth, "As your God as my witness, he can dance your dead back to their graves..." Abruptly, Feliciano had to ask,

"Wait, how did you know..?" But he shook it off; someone was _actually_ offering him help! "Yes, please! When can we leave?"

"One caution!" The deep, baritone that was Antonio's voice floated down before he let go of the branch and landed on his feet, much like a cat. He walked over to Feliciano before looking opening deep, emerald eyes and looking straight into the younger male's, "We _never_ dance without pay. Did you tell him that Antonella?"

Antonella shrugged her shoulders before pulling a black lace fan out of her sleeve, "That was our _father's_ rule, not ours. But we still follow it to this day, si?"

These two were definitely... _suspicious_, Feliciano could easily make that out with their home and manner of dress and speak. But, once again, they were offering help...

..And he was desperate.

"My father will pay you." He nodded, "Please, help us!"

* * *

Antonio immediately placed an ornate, ebony, gold-plated saddle onto their largest bull, preparing for the trip to Feliciano's village. Antonella was packing a travel-bag for her brother, filling it with all sorts of trinkets and mystic items: three skulls, a jar with a black substance that _looked_ like soot, a bar of cocoa, a small brick of salt, and six apples from one of their trees, along with many more.

This bag was then put inside of a large, wooden traveling-case that was the same size and shape... as a coffin. "Here you go!" Antonella beamed as the coffin switched hands, neither twin noticing Feliciano's fright. "Well then," Antonella smiled with a strange sort of curtsey, "I will see you when you get back Antonio." With that, she walked into the house: black ruffles billowing in the wind around her.

"Well," Antonio hummed as he hopped onto the saddle and got himself comfortable before holding a hand out to Feliciano, "Shall we?"

* * *

Much to Feliciano's surprise, the ride back to his village was quite smooth and quicker than any journey he had taken on horseback. In fact, it was almost as if he had simply blinked...

And there was his village. The once vibrant buildings barely had the ability to stand on their own anymore: one or two of them crumbling to the ground as the two males looked on. There was a scream from an obscured pathway...

Growling from another...

Then the sound of shattering glass followed by a plume of smoke rising into the twilight sky. "See what I mean?" Feliciano started as he jumped off of the bull's back, looking at the damage, "Ve, I hope that fratello is alright... How are you going to stop the monst..." He turned, stopping in his tracks at the sight that greeted his eyes. "What are you..?"

"Feliciano!" The young Italian immediately turned, a bright smile growing on his face as he recognized the face of his father: the handsome, suavely dressed mayor of the village Julius. "Who is this? Surely this can't be _all_ the help you were able to find?" Feliciano bit his lip, whimpering,

"He was the only one... who offered help..."

While the father and son talked amongst themselves, Antonio walked over to the village's outskirts, in the direction of their graveyard. Taking a deep whiff of the air, he frowned, "There's not a single body here... He turned back towards the village, "This strain of infestation is quite large..."

"Hey!" A new voice. A youth who looked a lot like Feliciano, only his hair was darker and his expression was much more serious, walked over to Julius and Feliciano, "What the hell are the two of you doing standing here? Dad, if you're free, go see those in the shelter And Feliciano! Where's the help you were supposed to find?"

Feliciano turned his head towards Antonio's approaching figure, "Well..." Lovino followed his younger brother's vision and saw the Spaniard, immediately yelling,

"What, HIM? You were supposed to find and army, not some Spanish pretty boy bastardo! What the hell are we going to do with _this guy_?"

As Antonio came closer, he couldn't help but look at the older brother. Feliciano was appealing to the eye, yes, but he was too pretty, too innocent...

Too _easy_ a challenge for his tastes.

But Lovino was feisty, difficult, fiery... And even if the rosary around his neck hurt Antonio's eyes, he couldn't help but discretely lick his lips. "Excuse me," He spoke up as he finally made it back over. He then raised his voice for all of the remaining villagers to hear, "Si, I agree that I may not look like much. But you all have my promise that I will do my best to rid you of your problem... As long as I get paid afterward." He gave a pointed glare towards Feliciano and Julius before continuing, "I will begin tomorrow afternoon as tonight I have to prepare. So, until then mi amigos... buenos noches." With that, Antonio hopped back onto the bull's back and gently rode it to the secluded area that was the graveyard.

With all that had happened, no one wanted to say anything about the stranger going to set up camp in the graveyard. Soon after, they all went about their business. All except Lovino who narrowed his eyes with a whisper of, "There's something suspicious about that Spanish bastard..."

* * *

So, around midnight, he snuck out of the shelter that the survivors of the village had been sleeping in since the attacks began and slowly made his way to the graveyard. He shivered as a cool wind drifted through the quiet space.

It didn't even seem as if there were any animals around, everything was so still.

But then, up ahead, the glow of a simple fire could be seen. Lovino walked closer, sure that it was Antonio but not sure what he was doing in the middle of the night... Until he was close enough for the bull to snort at him. Antonio, who had been eating a loaf of bread and drinking something that seemed like hot chocolate, looked over and smiled, "Little boys shouldn't be up so late, it stunts their growth."

"Fuck you." Lovino scoffed before walking to the fire with a frown. The Italian's face was scrunched up in a frown that Antonio couldn't help but smile at. "You're supposed to be getting rid of the monsters, why are you sitting here on your ass?"

The Spaniard shook his head, a deep chuckle rumbling through his chest, "Calm down young one, I will get rid of your dead have no fear about that. But there are certain rituals that have to be seen to, understand?"

Lovino scoffed at that, especially when he watched Antonio rip a piece of bread from the loaf and chew it down; following it with a sip from his mug. "Oh yeah, sitting here stuffing your face will help us _so_ much... Maybe I should take a seat and join you!" Antonio chuckled again,

"Sure. If you want to try bread baked from the bones of a black cat." Lovino's eyes went wide as Antonio took another bite, lifting the steaming mug, "Or maybe perhaps you'd like a drink? It's made from a chocolate plant grown on a virgin's grave and the ashes of 3 different nuns."

Lovino immediately felt ill, his eyes fixed on the Spaniard as he took another swig of the beverage. It was after he finished off the bread that Lovino scoffed, "I don't believe you."

"Whether you believe in the devil or not," Antonio hummed, slowly swishing the contents of the mug around, "It doesn't change the matter that he exists, no?"

"What are you, some kind of witch?" Lovino asked, his right hand subconsciously going for his rosary. Antonio grimaced at that, offering,

"Not a witch... But not completely normal either. It's..." He chuckled again, "Complicated."

Lovino rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up in the air, "Yeah, I bet. Freaky Spanish bastard, having a picnic in a graveyard at night..." He was so busy in his muttering that he didn't notice Antonio standing to his feet or walking over to him until he abruptly felt his arm grabbed. "The hell?"

Antonio had a pleasant smile on his face as he sniffed the sun-kissed, smooth flesh there, "You have such... beautiful skin. It smells nice."

"Get off!" Lovino shouted, yanking his arm away from the other and making his way back to the shelter with a mutter of, "Weirdo..."

Antonio simply watched him go with a smile: sinfully green eyes shining in the darkness.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky the following morning. The survivors stood on the outskirts of town to see what would happen. There was a terrified scream from the inside of the village, but no one was fool enough to actually go in to see if they could help.

"Ve..." Feliciano gulped, looking up to Julius, "Do you think that he'll be able to do it?"

"He'd better if he knows what's good for him-" A sudden hush over the villagers interrupted the mayor. They all turned and saw Antonio. He had a thick, black cloak covering his body: tassels made from the gold-tipped tails of a hundred rats hanging from the edges, a silken hat decorated in ravens' feathers and a scarab beetle on his head.

"Oy, bastardo!" Lovino frowned, Antonio not once averting his eyes from the path to the village as he walked, "What's with that get-up all of a sudden? Are you going to _scare_ the monsters out?"

Antonio didn't respond until he was just outside the village gates. It was in the form of a chuckle, "No. Not _scare_."

The gates shut behind him with a resounding clang. After a moment, the remaining villagers rushed to the gates: safe from harm but close enough to see the Spaniard go to work.

Antonio slowly moved through the alleyways, ears keyed in to catch any sound or wail. "This village must have a shitty manner of handling its dead for this to happen..." He mused out loud as he walked. Then, to the left, a child's perishing screams.

Then, before the sound even reached his ears, he turned to the right and saw a young woman shrieking as she was pulled into the shadows by an unseen force. The brunette could only sigh, "Hopefully they will snap her neck so she won't have to suffer..."

The Spaniard didn't stop until he made it to the center of the village. Then, jumping onto the edge of the blood-stained well there, Antonio whipped away the heavy cloak from his shoulders, revealing the decadent garb of a flamenco dancer of the highest class. The pants and outer vest were sewn from dark silk that seemed to hold an unnatural luster, and the inner blouse looked like it was freshly spilt blood that had been formed into a cloth. Around his trim waist was tied a scarlet sash that was decoratively frayed at the end.

Antonio looked upon the village from under the rim of his hat before reaching into his pant pockets and pulling out a pair of ivory castanets: one engraved with a skeleton dressed much like himself and the other bearing a skeletal woman dressed to the nine in flamenco attire.

"Alright mi amigos," The Spaniard with the emerald green eyes smiled, holding castanets at the ready as he took the traditional first stance: both black and ruby shoes on the ground, hands held in the air. "Arriba!"

Then... it began.

Toe and heel tapping the ground in the rhythm of a song only he knew, followed by those pristine castanets. Flamenco was Spain's gift to the world, the twining of bodies carved from the Mediterranean sun in sensual movements as old as time.

Antonio's body was a mesmerizing sight to behold: muscles flexing and stretching with every sinful movement, playing music without instruments. And, as he danced, the clouds in the sky slowly grew thick and grey: random flashes of lightning coming in from the distance.

The villagers suddenly grew fearful and unsure of this stranger, especially when the winds began to pick up. A particular gale seized Antonio's hat and and drifted it all the way to his bull: the steer grabbing the accessory with his mouth.

Antonio looked around, noticing that the sounds of hunting had ceased. Then he picked up his tempo: clacking the castanets in the air and causing more lightning to strike closer to the village. As he moved, one could say that the steps became almost... _hypnotic_.

From the shadows, a boney foot stepped forth. Another corner brought the shadow of a woman's body: torn dress fluttering in the wind. There was a unearthly groan as one of the beasts came into light: skin and flesh dripping from his bones as his eyes rolled in his sockets.

More and more rotting beings struggled out of the dark corners of the village: various hisses and groans floating in the air, just below Antonio's music. When he saw that three of them had left the body that they were devouring in favor of coming closer to him, he nodded.

It was working. The chocolate-haired male danced over to a limping body that used to be a woman: her hair falling to the ground in stringy clumps. "Hola senorita!" Antonio greeted with a smile and a bow before he tied the castanets to the sash so his movements could keep clacking them in rhythm. Grabbing the corpse's hand, not wincing in the least at the unnaturally soft yield that her flesh gave to his fingers, he brought the body close and began a dance for two with her.

After a few spins, grinds, and shakes, he spun her away and grabbed his castanets before rushing down the road. "Come along, I know you all aren't stupid! Come on!"

His feet tapping the road, the castanets clacking in the air, Antonio danced through the streets of the village: more and more of the undead limping to try and follow him.

Pretty soon, the gates of the village were in sight.

"Open the gate!" He shouted as he and the undead came closer. Lovino nodded and quickly followed the instruction, getting the hell out of the way when Antonio led the swarm through: dancing all the while, even when his bull tossed him his discarded cloak. "Come on..." He whispered as he danced along the winding road that led away from the village. Never did he lose focus on his rhythm: his feet meeting the ground with small clouds of dust kicking up, spins of his body and cloak creating an additional spectacle.

As the Spaniard danced past them, Lovino found his eyes... _transfixed_ on Antonio. Those steps and spins... they were _far_ too beautiful and skilled to be handled by any man but, here it was right in front of him. It was almost frightening how decadent and sexual those moves were.

* * *

Meanwhile, Antonio had led the undead horde to a large ravine a few miles away from the village. The jagged rocks and height would surely work for what he needed to be done. So, with a single breath, he jumped into a spin that brought him into the air above the chasm.

At first, the walking corpses seemed confused at the man standing mid-air. But when Antonio began dancing and clacking the castanets together, the first corpse shuffled and limped forth until he fell over the edge: his weak skull shattering on impact with the ground.

Slowly but surely, the others followed his example: falling to the ground as cracks, groans, and shrieks echoed all around Antonio until the last decaying body of an old woman slipped over the edge: impaling herself on a rock spire.

With one final flourish, Antonio spun, tossed the castanets up in the air, and grabbed them both in one hand, shouting "Ole!".

* * *

The whole process was an exhausting one, not just on his body but on his soul as well, so his bull came to get him and help him back to the village. Of course, he was greeted by cheering crowds and swooning women; he had come to expect it.

But he paid them all no mind. His thoughts were on one man and one man only. So he let the bull lead him to Julius and his sons. Once there, he stood up straight, brushed himself off, and stated, "Well, I think you'll see that your village is at peace señor. Now, as callous as it seems, I think we should talk about my payment..."

Julius's eyebrow twitched before he leaned over and whispered into Feliciano's ear, "What the hell is he talking about?"

"What do you mean?" Feliciano whispered, "Ve... Oh, I said that you would give him something in return for helping us!"

"Señor..." Antonio chuckled, "I don't have all day."

"Yes..." Julius laughed, clearing his throat. Truth be told, he _had_ money; what kind of mayor would he be if he didn't? But he didn't know how much Antonio wanted and he wasn't about to be taken as a fool. So, a clever thought ran through his mind. "Ah, yes. Thank you _so_ much for saving our village young man..."

"It was no problem." Antonio nodded, "Now, can we discuss payment?" Julius smiled,

"Yes, for saving my village we shall thank you with..." Antonio leaned in, expectantly, "Our _gratitude._"

The Spaniard's face instantly fell. "Excuse me?" He shook his head with a nervous chuckle, "Señor, I... I don't think I heard you right. What was that?"

Julius folded his arms, "If we had known that all we had to do was dance those monsters out, we would have done it _ourselves_ for free. So why should _you_ be any different? Thank you for your services."

Antonio blinked. Once... Twice... Thrice... "Señor..." He calmly spoke up, "Are you saying that you will not pay me?" Julius shook his head, Antonio twitching a bit as he asked, "Señor... Are you _truly_ refusing to pay me?"

"For God's sake!" Lovino frowned at the two stubborn men, especially his father, "Just pay him so we can get on with our lives!"

"No." Julius shook his head, scratching at the stubble on his chin, "I'm not paying him."

Once more... Antonio asked, clenching his teeth due to his oncoming rage, "Señor. Are you not going to pay me?"

"Get it through your head already!" The mayor snapped, "We have nothing for you!"

After that sudden outburst, things went calm. But it wasn't a good, relaxing calm. It was the calm before a storm, the calm before a volcanic eruption. It was broken when the bull shook his head, as if he knew what would happen.

"I..." Antonio seethed, reaching into the coffin on the bull's side, "Never... Dance..." Turning back around, he pulled out an guitar made of ebony wood and decorated with the designs of skulls. **"For FREE!"** He gritted out, sharp teeth visible in his mouth.

In the blink of an eye, he brought his fingers to his mouth and pricked all of them with his teeth: blood beading on his fingertips. Slowly, he rose the bleeding fingers to the guitar strings and strummed a single note.

That note seemed to ripple through the buildings into the earth, the villagers all feeling ill as the sound flowed through them. Antonio then began to play a song: it was slower, calmer, than the song he had danced to, but it seemed _much_ angrier.

* * *

A few miles away from the village, in that massive ravine, the corpses all lay rotting in the hot sun. Flies and ants had started to swarm over the moist, weak flesh and two crows had started fighting over an eyeball that was hanging from a skull's socket.

The dulcet notes of the guitar drifted over the mangled and broken bodies. At first, it seemed like nothing happened. The crows successfully ripped the eyeball away and were digging into it.

One of the eyes of a woman's corpse moved around until it looked towards the direction of the village.

* * *

"What the hell?" Julius asked, scratching his head as Antonio continued to play, "You're not trying to get me to pay with a song, are you?" But Antonio didn't respond. But a sinking sensation had taken hold in Lovino's chest. He didn't know exactly what it was but it felt like _something_ was about to happen.

A horrible _something_.

Antonio glanced towards the bull, still playing, before the animal nodded and turned to Lovino: looking straight into his eyes.

"What the hell are you..." Lovino frowned at first, but as he looked into the bull's eyes they shifted from deep brown, to red, to glowing scarlet. And when he looked at those scarlet eyes, he flinched as he felt his body go numb: his own eyes glazing over.

"Fratello?" Feliciano asked. But Lovino didn't respond. The bull began walking towards the village gate, Lovino following. "Fratello, stop! Where are you going?" The younger Italian screamed, trying to go after his brother.

He was blocked by a rush of people running into the village, screaming and panicking about some unseen threat. "What is it?" Julius shouted, trying not to lose track of his sons in the chaos. However, he soon saw what had the villagers so frightened.

They had _returned_! Somehow the undead corpses that Antonio had gotten rid of had climbed out of the ravine. Even worse, there seemed to be _more_ of them than there were before.

"You crazy bastard!" Julius screamed as the undead began surrounding the living villagers, "What the hell are you trying to do?" Antonio didn't answer. He continued to play his guitar, occasionally looking back where the bull was leading Lovino.

He noted that they were getting pretty close to the village gates and showed no sign of stopping. A thought shot through his mind: Lovino had been the one to keep an eye on the village gates since the attacks had started (due to Julius being too lazy and Feliciano being too cowardly).

Lovino was the only one who had the keys to the gates.

The very same keys that the Italian was taking out from his pockets. The bull stopped just outside the village, allowing the last of the shuffling corpses to make their way inside before nodding his head towards the gate.

Lovino slowly walked over and, with the screams of his father and brother falling on deaf ears, pulled the doors together...

"FRATELLO!" Feliciano sobbed out.

Inserted the key...

"Lovino, NO!" Julius howled.

And locked the doors once and for all, the bull leading him away towards the graveyard to wait. When they were gone, Antonio stopped playing for a moment: glaring at the villagers with emerald, rage-filled eyes.

"Wait! Wait!" Julius shouted over the clamor and chaos of the surrounding villagers, "I'll pay you! Anything you want, just please-!"

Antonio didn't even let him finish his sentence. "You had your chance Señor.", He strummed the guitar once more...

And the undead fell upon the villagers. With all of them out in the open, lured by false security, it was a smorgasbord for the animated corpses. Crimson splashed across the road, onto various walls. The echo of cracking bone fell upon the ears of those still living.

With the undead surrounding them, there was nowhere to run. But it didn't stop people from trampling each other in vain attempts to escape. Before he knew it, Julius heard a pitiful yelp as Feliciano was grabbed by the decaying horde.

The poor youth's eyes were filled with pleas for help... Even as he was torn apart: his skin rent from his flesh. Even as they tore him open, pulling steaming entrails and still-pulsating organs...

Julius was sure that the expression of fear and agony would stay with him for the rest of his life. It was fortunate for him, then, that his life was soon ended by the trampling feet of the villagers he once ruled over.

* * *

Antonella was sitting on the floor of her and her brother's home, eyes closed and her mouth moving in inaudible words. The door opened, allowing light into the dim room lit only by black candles, but she didn't move. "Oh dear," She sighed, eyes still closed, "They didn't pay?"

"No." Antonio walked past her, lugging the coffin behind him, "You would think people would learn but, hey, the world; it's how she is, si?" Antonella shook her head, raising her blood-stained hands from where they rested on the floor where an inverted pentagram had been drawn in viscous red.

"I just got finished speaking with **father.**" She explained, Antonio setting the coffin on the table,

"Ah, how is **he**?"

Antonella wiped her hands of her dress, smiling as she walked over to the table to meet her twin, "Oh, **he's** fine. **He** was complaining that we've been sending too many souls down for **him** to keep up with."

"We can't control their stupidity Antonella, you know that and **he** knows that." Antonella nodded before examining the coffin. She quickly rapped her fingers on the top before asking,

"What do you have in here?"

"The money that was rightfully mine..." Antonio smirked, his emerald eyes shining, "Among _other_ things." At that, Antonella was immediately intrigued. She quickly unlatched the dark coffin and removed the lid. Her face lit up into an enraptured smile,

"Antonio, he's _adorable_! You really _do_ take after our **father**, this is how he and Mama met, you know!" Antonio slowly nodded, eyes roving over the chest's contents. Gold coins and gems were there to be seen, yes, but his true treasure had to be the unconscious youth that lay amongst the finery inside.

* * *

**A/N: And... done. Hrm... * personal-criticism mode * Why does it fall apart near the end~? GOD! Oh well, I'm just going to put this up and hopefully people will like it. Thanks for reading, if you liked what you read, please review! **

**-Tyranno's girl. **


End file.
